Minitrix - 16895 - Locomotive, Electric, Siemens ES64 F4 (BR 189) - ERS Railways - ES 64 F4-206

Specific Item Information: One-time series for the 125th anniversary of the death of Vincent van Gogh

Prototype History: The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400 kW power at rail. Additional information is given in the name on the usage (U as universal, P as prototype and F as freight) and on the number of electric power systems supported.

The ES 64 F4 is an electric freight locomotive with 6,400 kW (8,600 hp) power and a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph), in Germany the reporting name is Class 189. It is also equipped for passenger service, but seldom used in that role. ES 64 F4 is equipped for all four electric systems commonly used in Europe (15 and 25 kV AC, 1.5 and 3 kV DC). Because limited space inhibits installation of all safety systems, Class 189 is equipped with various packages giving partial European coverage, e. g. Germany and Switzerland. The braking system includes an electrical energy recovery system.

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Road Name History: ERS Railways (formerly European Rail Shuttle B.V.) is a fully independent railway company, 100% owned by Freightliner Group Ltd., with headquarter in the Netherlands and five offices in four countries across Europe. With a modern fleet of locomotives and over 400 leased container platforms, low-bed as well as double pocket wagons, they are able to transport container, tank and trailer units. ERS Railways has so far been granted railway licenses in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria.

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Brand/Importer Information: Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. one of its co-founders was Stephan Bing, the son of the pioneer toy-maker industrialist Ignaz Bing. In 1935 the company began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label. Prior to the outbreak of World War II the Trix company produced a small range of fairly unrealistic AC powered three rail models running at 14 volts.

N gauge models under the Minitrix brand were made from the late 1960s mostly of European prototypes (German and British primarily). North American prototypes were also manufactured and marketed under the Aurora "Postage Stamp" brand; later these items were sold under the American Tortoise, Model Power and Con-Cor brands. Trix sometimes utilized North American consultants to aid in the design of this portion of the product line. The "Hornby Minitrix' brand was used in the 1980s for a short lived range of British outline models using the earlier product tooling.

Trix's owner in the 1980s and 1990s was Mangold, which went bankrupt in the late 1990s and Märklin purchased the assets in January 1997. In part, this purchase was a reflection of Märklin's need for added production capacity; Trix had been manufacturing certain items for Märklin in previous years. The purchase was also in response to the earlier purchase of the Karl Arnold company by the Italian company Rivarossi; Märklin were very keen to take over Trix market share in 2-rail H0 and especially Minitrix, until then Märklin had not marketed N gauge models. In 2003, Märklin introduced its first N gauge models under the well established Minitrix brand. A number Märklin H0 scale three-rail AC locomotives have also been introduced in two-rail DC versions under the Trix logo and many models are shared between the two brands.

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